BRITISH BORNEO, 61 
taste is displayed in the handle, which is often of delicately 
carved ivory and gold, and just below the attachment of the 
handle, the blade is broadened out, forming a hilt, the under 
edge of which is generally fancifully carved. Age adds 
greatly tothe value of the £rzs and the history of many is 
handed down. The highest price I know of being given for 
a Brunai £rzs was $100, paid by the present Sultan for one 
he presented to the British North Borneo Company on his 
accession to the throne, but I have heard of higher prices 
being asked. Very handsomely grained and highly polished 
wood is used for the sheath and the two pieces forming it are 
frequently so skilfully joined as to have the appearance of 
being in one. Though naturally a stabbing weapon, the 
Malays of Brunai generally use it for cutting, and after an 
amok the blade employed is often found bent out of all shape. 
The parang is simply an ordinary cutlass, with a blade 
two feet in length. As we generally carry a pocket knife 
about with us, so the Brunai Malay always wears his parang, 
or has it near at hand, using it for every purpose where cut- 
ting is required, from paring his nails to cutting the posts of 
which his house is built, or weeding his patch of rice land. 
With this and his dlzong he performs all his carpentry 
work ; from felling the enormous timber tree in the jungle to 
the construction of his house and boat. The 4/zong is indeed 
a most useful implement and can perform wonders in the hands 
of a Malay. It is in the shape of a small adze, but according 
to the way it is fitted into the handle it can be used either as 
an axe oradze. The Malays with this instrument can make 
planks and posts as smooth as a European carpenter is able 
to do with his plane. 
The parang ilang is a fighting weapon, with a peculiarity 
in the shape of the blade which, Dr. TAYLOR informs me, is 
not known to occur in the weapons of any other country, and 
consists in the surface of the near side being flat, as in an 
ordinary blade, while that of the off side is distinctly convex. 
This necessitates rather careful handling in the case ofa 
novice, as the convexity is liable to cause the blade to glance 
off any hard substance and inflict a wound on its wielder. 
